The Terrace Standard, |, Wednesday, September 15, 1993 - Page o1

Sports Menu, |

SPORTS NEWS

TERRACE STANDARD, MALCOLM BAXTER 638- 7283.

Page C2

Skeena Angier

when only steelhead would do, when bigger was best and more was better.

"There are coho in the Lakelse," a fishing partner would say, extending - his arms to lengths no jong-toothed, . _ trophy coho could hope to attain. "Let s go get some."

_. “Nuisance fish," [’'d. say: in an im-

‘perious voice, To me these were - targets for spoon chuckers, tourist fish.

And there were tout: tads that _ grabbed your-fly when you were out . after nobler. game, irritants that swal- : Jowed a carefully crafted fly destined ~ for a tailewalking, tackle-straining . summer steclhead,

_ Then I met Finlay. “To Fin, steelhead were a dividend ~ and salmon were problem fish, "If you ‘want to catch steelhead," I’d tell him, ‘you're going to have to use a sinking . fine." _ - MEE T've got to fish those lines," he’d say, I’ll give up fishing." To Finlay, the sinking line was an. infernal con- traption that added unnecded complica- : tions to the sport.

Flyfishing, Fin concluded, was sport at its most enjoyable when done with

ce, precision and free from gim-

_mickry; it had to be more art than {> selence. .- -- “Just a dolly," 1 would think as Fin-

- lay pulled in a char, but it was never - just a dolly to Fin. :

To hima silvery litte creature, fol- “lowing. on the fins of salmon, was a ; _ Special fish: confirmation everything - _was still working well, the cycles still. “ cycling. It was every bit as special as a trophy steelhead, He caught and hand*" “led it with a combination. of boyish © ~ etithusiasm and reverence.

[took years before I was-won oyer, “before Ecame, to: realize. the. sport . “tumed cn proportion ‘and performance.

It was nice to catch a big trout or a big ‘char, but not simply because they were “big but because it was comforting to know ‘that there were still big fish ] ‘around. Big fish. meant the spectrum

“was probably still intact and the trout . population was still healthy.

Steelheading means fishing generic patiems, presenting then.in the same, _ or very nearly .the same way, over and over again, pushing hundreds of casts -into the wind in the course of a day with the knowledge there was good chance of drawing a blank.

*So what do you like better,” Fin ‘liked to.ask after a good day of trout — fishing, "Hooking all those cutthroat, or catching a couple of fish on the Copper?"

On those occasions I was forced to admit effortless fishing at the head of

- fast rifles and depressions next to root »

“wads with the light .rod and floating —

line was the finest form of recreation.

It was this change in perspective that put me on the Kitimat River with Webb and Hd at a time of year we'd

to pursue steelhead. We floated through the remodelled,

stone knuckles stuck out between the | stumps, past shaky, treeless banks, ]- stalking cuts. We found them in fast, oxygen rich spills.

"They're living in this kind of water," I] said to Ed as we shot over a rapid into the head of a swirling pool.

/ "We'd better fish it."

Hid took a step into. the fast water and

made a cast, I ‘went above him and 5 "siarted working water I thought too fast to offer any possibilities.

A fish hit my fly hard and shot off to

; “the end of the pool. I reached for the _ handle. It was gone. "The handie’s flown off!" I yelled. : Ed scrambled up the bank, broke off

- stuck the twig in one of the holes in the ‘reel: and started: to. crank. Everything held.

~ Afler a see-saw struggle I slid the

-‘fish Into the shallows. A shiny, spotted “ ¢feature, a span across the shoulder, We admired it, shaking our heads, then “sot it free,

A specimen cutt, It measured over “4wo feet, "Five Pounds?” I ventured,

- “More like six," said Ed atill shaking oohishead,

They ‘wete- all gobd--fish ‘that. day: - Fine, healthy cutthroat and we found ‘the fish of:a lifetime.:1 only. wish Fin ‘could have been there,

HERE WAS A TIME |

normally be using all our angling time.

' formerly savage now savaged: landscape, past enormous cuts where -

- the end of a stick and handed it to me. 1.

Andy Lambert (above) found... its target as the Terracite:...

tie after the first round. It took two. throw offs to decide the fifial: placings with Andy being

“edged into third. Finding the

water (right.and below right) is Gerry Lambert. He took top spat in the novice division but was no match for overall point winner George Jackson in the log burling. The win was one better than the Hazelton

And, below, one young spectator obviously found the spectacle of burlers being plunged into the icy water almost tao much to bear.

AIRBORNE AXE thrown by |

finished in a four-way, 14- soit |

champion’s 1992 performance.

Pole no obstacle for Lambert

Gerry Lambert saved the best

‘for last,

And it brought the Terracite top Spot in. the novice division at this year’ 8 Loggers Sports.’

Having had to settle for the runner-up

: position in three previous events, Lam- bert broke through the barrier in the final

event, the obstacle pole bucking. «:

-And that win was just what he needed

to edge Hazelton's Wesley Bender for " the novice crown.”

The victory also deprived Hazelton of a sweep at the Loggers as George Jack- son chopped, sawed and burled his: way to a second consecutive high point total.

Jackson took the title afler a thriller battle with Harry Starrett of Chilliwack,

Starrelt got the early jump with a win in the Standing Block Chop. Jackson

~ evened it up in the Underhand Chop, the

third event on the open card, and the duo then traded off one-two finishes to keep it deadlocked.

The pride of Hazetion took the lead Eor the first and final lime in: the Double Hand Bucking, clinching the title witha second in. the Chokerman’s Race, twa places clear of Starrett.

For good measure, Jackson added a

‘|. victory in the log: burling, an event Star-

- Tett passed on.

“a Neil Morgan of Kitimat came up with -a strong performance once again, setting

-an vnbeatable pace in the Chokerman’s

-Race to add to his Obstacle Pole Buck-

“ing win,

.., Hometowner Richard Lindstrom got better the longer the day went on. After

” picking up just a third in novice events, ‘Lindstrom added two more: against his

“seniors as weil as taking lop spot in the local Power Saw Bucking and Open Pole Bucking.

Other local. successes included Vic Devost who wielded his stock saw, to a first in the Novice Power Saw Bucking and then showed them ail how to do it in the Pole Falling, “a Canadian Championship points event,

Perennial favourite Andy: Lambert of Terrace drew cheers from the large, sun- drenched crowd with fout money fin-

ing, New Westminister’s . Alan’ West and

Chris Miller of West Vancouver pro- vided a strong visitors’ challenge in the novice division, West taking the Single Hand Bucking and Miller the Chokerman’s, Miller went on to split Jackson and Starrett in the open Underhand Chop and vsed his Single Hand Bucking skills to

take a third behind the same pair. For full results of the Loggers Sporis, see the SCOREBOARD on page C4. .

ishes including a third in the axe ‘throw-'

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